That ethos has run throughout rap music and Hip-Hop culture in the decades since, and some of the greatest political songs of the past 35 years have come from Hip-Hop artists. The rise of Public Enemy announced a new generation of post-civil rights era Black voices, born of economic disenfranchisement and politicized policing of the Reagan era. In the late 1980s, the political Hip-Hop of artists like Public Enemy and Boogie Down Productions served to reawaken the Black consciousness in mainstream American culture. Kept it negro as a motherfucker.'' Tremendous.From the organization of community jams in the Bronx to the topicality of songs like 'The Message' and 'Problems Of the World,' Hip-Hop's soul is forever tied to the kind of commentary that sprung from the streets. 'Straight the fuck up-a Reagan's Dead Barbecue. Entirely engaging.Īnd he don't stop: Jayson Greene's great Killer Mike/El-P profile from this week's Village Voice allows Mike to expand on his point: ''I threw a barbecue when Reagan died,' he says. It's thoughtful, but broad enough to be arguable.

This is completely audacious stuff, blasting recent presidents in a line ('Why did Reagan and Obama both go after Gaddafi / We invaded sovereign soil / Goin' after oil / Taking countries is a hobby paid for by the oil lobby / Same as in Iraq, and Afghanistan / And Ahmadinejad say they coming for Iran / They only love the rich, and how they loathe the poor / If I say any more they might be at my door'). (See also: plenty of '90s rap, gangsta and otherwise, as well as the Menace II Society commentary, in which one of the Hughes brothers talks about the way Reaganomics inspired that film.) Reaganomics were such a scourge on the already disenfranchised that even decades later, they warrant rage - 'I'll leave you with four words: I'm glad Reagan dead,' is how Mike ends this, after El-P's track spends half the time brooding only to finally explode. Music, but, wow, is it great to hear righteously indignant social commentary this bold in the virtually depoliticized forum of contemporary hip-hop. 'Reagan' isn't exactly a representation of the good time to be had on R.A.P. It's so raw, so funky, so furious and often so fun. They really should put it out on cassette.' Chris Weingarten says it best on Spin: 'It's an impossible rap record that appeals directly to 'golden era' purism (i.e., 'back when rap was good' for people aged 35 and up), but is still noisy enough to shake off the cobwebs and scare the squares. Produced by El-P and sporting an acronym that represents Rebellious African People, the album is marked with clarity - in Mike's voice and lyrics, in its homage to the past 30 years of hip-hop, and in its agitated spirit. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the album that has ruled my week (and is a strong contender for my favorite album of the year so far), Killer Mike's sixth full-length, R.A.P.

Songs like killer mike reagan